Nominal Morphology
Noun Classes
Overview
Most nouns can occur in two numbers, singular and plural. There are eight singular noun classes and six plural noun classes. Noun classes are lexically determined: while generalizations can be made about the semantic content of certain noun classes, they are by no means entirely predictable. In most cases, noun classes are named after the concordant marking on corresponding determiners.
| Singular classes | Noun prefix | Adj prefix | Det. prefix | Semantic generalization | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ox | o-* | o- | ox- | humans | |
| ol | o- | o- | ol- | ||
| l | Ø- | Ø- | l- | ||
| f | Ø- | fa-** | f- | ||
| n | Ø-** | Ø-** | n- | ||
| al | a- | Ø-* | l- | ||
| ong | o-** | o-** | ong- | diminutives | |
| gal | ga-** gi-** |
a-* | al- | augmentatives | |
| Plural classes | |||||
| w | Ø- | Ø- | w- | humans | |
| ax | xa-* | xa-* | ax- | ||
| ak | a-* | a-* | ak- | ||
| k | Ø-* | Ø-* | k- | ||
| fn | fo-** | fo-** | n- | diminutives | |
| gak | ga-** | a-** | ak- | augmentatives |
- *The initial consonant of the stem undergoes standard nominal mutation, if able.
- **The initial consonant of the stem undergoes prenasalized nominal mutation, if able.
Most singular noun classes correspond to exactly one plural noun class, with the exception of the al class. However, the corresponding plural form for any given al class noun is predictable. All al/k nouns have an initial prenasalized consonant; all al/ak nouns do not. The complete table of noun class pairs is shown in the following table.
| Class | Example | Det. | English | Plural | Det. | Semantic generalization |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ox/w | o-tew | oxe | woman | Ø-rew | we | humans |
| ol/ax | o-fiiɗ | ole | butterfly | xa-piiɗ | axe | |
| l/ak | Ø-xomb | le | turtle | a-qomb | ake | |
| f/k | Ø-xaarit | fe | friend | Ø-qaarit | ke | |
| n/k | Ø-nqoox | ne | bull | Ø-qoox | ke | |
| al/k | a-mbeel | ale | lake | Ø-peel | ke | |
| al/ak | a-koong | ale | monkey | a-koong | ake | |
| ong/fn | o-ndew | onge | woman [DIM] | fo-ndew | ne | diminutives |
| gal/gak | ga-ndew gi-ndew |
ale | woman [AUG] | ga-ndew | ake | augmentatives |
Negation of a noun is indicated by the free morphology word [jege]. It's unclear if this element can function verbally or if it can only negate nouns.
Irregular nouns
A handful of nouns have singular-plural noun class pairs that do not fall into this regular paradigm.
Semantic Generalizations
Human Class (ox/w)
Augmentative and Diminutive Classes (gal/gak and ong/fn)
We probably don't need examples here except to demonstrate how to derive augmentative nouns from non-augmentative ones. Faytak 17:11, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
| Gloss | Singular Noun | Augmentative of SN | Plural Noun | Augmentative of PN | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cat | muus | gamuusala |
Word/clitic status of "articles"
The "articles" discussed above are apparently not suffixal, as one might assume, making them either independent (and mobile) words or clitics (which attach to the right edge of a DP?).
For instance, note that the agreement for the article in xaˈƥek ˈsuuˌkar aˌhe 'the pieces of sugar (sugarcubes)' matches that of xaˈƥek aˌxe 'the pieces', rather than the agreement seen in ˈsuuˌkar fe 'the sugar': the article agrees with xaˈƥek despite not being immediately adjacent to it.
More convincing evidence comes from the fact that one or more adjectives can intervene between the article and the noun. (Elaborate upon this.)
It is unclear at this point precisely what semantic function they serve. Some specifying and/or deictic function seems to be involved.
Other things that agree with noun class
Coming soon, tables for:
- 'which'
- 'how many/much'
- relativizers/ thingys in headless relative clauses
